Father accused in hot car death of son faces new charges | News

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MARIETTA, Ga. (WXIA) -- The father charged in the hot car death of his son has been indicted on several new counts involving sexual exploitation of children.

In June 2014, Ross Harris was arrested after his 22-month-old son Cooper was found dead in the back seat of an SUV. Harris is set to go on trial in April on numerous charges including malice murder, felony murder and cruelty to children.

On Thursday, Harris was indicted on two counts of sexual exploitation of children and six counts of dissemination of harmful material to minors.

The new charges seem to stem from incidents that occurred before Cooper's death. The indictment says Harris swapped sexually explicit photos with three girls from January to May of 2014 and sent them printed descriptions of various sex acts.

In the original 2014 indictment, Harris was charged with three counts of sending inappropriate texts to underage girls. Prosecutors have said that Harris had sexually explicit conversations with an underage girl on the day that Cooper died. Throughout the motions leading up to his murder trial, Harris' defense has argued, even if true, they are irrelevant to his son's death.

Jury selection in Harris' murder trial is set to begin on April 11. The trial is anticipated to start in late April.